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Wednesday, January 16, 2008

MagicalPianonotes

This story; written out of pure admiration for a man who was blacklisted from the NFL for loving a man, simply made my day. Brenda Thueson would do well to ignore naysayers who try twisting her one ambivalent phrase into a weapon. It would be as pointing out a perceived flaw, when Ray hit an erroneous piano key on those memorable evenings, when in fact, if he ever did miss a note, he probably flashed one of his eternal glistening smiles, laughed at the marvelous error, and brought even more light into the vibrant room. Clearly, to Brenda, basking in Ray McDonald’s delightful presence was as good as sitting on St. Nick’s lap on Christmas Eve.

Although, Brenda’s childhood memories of Ray, is one of the warmest pieces run by the Statesman this winter, up until now, the comment board has been, to some extent cold. Faithful readers would do well to ask themselves why that is.

While Sonny Jurgensen and the Washington Redskins declined to respond to Dan Popkey’s all-encompassing article, it’s likely that some of the old-gridironers have read it by now. It would be interesting to hear if any of them would like to comment on Brenda’s heartfelt story. If not, suffice it to say that Curly’s brown-eyed baby has written her account well enough, that some of us can still sense Mr. McDonald’s enchantment, emanating from her old upright piano, forty years on.